Rasgulla OR Rossogollas of Kolkata - History And Recipes

Updated on August 29, 2011

Introduction

Rossogolla, the classic and historical Bengali sweet is also
famous in the other parts of India as well as in some neighboring countries
like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is almost a custom in Bengal to
serve Rossogolla as welcome refreshment as well as a dessert in any festival or
domestic occasion to their eminent guest and relatives. This white yummy sweet ball
is called Rosogolla, Roshogolla, Rasogolla or rossogolla in Bengal and Rosgulla
or Rasgulla in the other parts of India.

Rossogolla

Sri Nobin Chandra Das

History

If you talk about
rossogolla, the legendary name of Sri Nobin Chandra Das of Kolkata will
immediately come to your mind. He is the inventor of Rossogolla and
respectfully remembered as the Father of Rossogolla. In the year 1868 Nobin Chandra succeeded in making
this legendary sweet which is now called the ‘National sweet of India’. His
ancestors were sugar merchants of Kolkata having considerable social standing.
Hailing originally from the district of Burdwan, the Das family had made
Kolkata their home for eight generations by now. Their house was on the bank of
holy river Ganges in Sutanotty (now Bagbazar, Kolkata).

But the journey
from a tiny confectioner of Kolkata to the legendary ‘Father of Rossogolla’ was
not that easy at that time. He didn’t have that much of recourses for marketing
the product. Nobin had no other alternative but to leave everything on his
fortune. At last one fine morning, a magnificent cart came to his shop. Raibahadur
Bhagwandas Bagla, a wealthy timber merchant of Kolkata was in the carriage with
his family. A child came out of the cart and asked for a glass of water. Nobin
Chandra offered his usual hospitality. The child was offered “Rossogolla” along
with a glass of water. The child was so delighted that he shared it with his
father. The father was equally thrilled, and immediately bought a large
quantity for his family and friends. Nobin Chandra and his “Rossogolla” became
famous in no time.

Contrary to the advice of his friends and admirers to take
out patents, this great man taught the intricacies of Rossogolla-making to
numerous sweetmeat makers. He believed that his creation could only gain
popularity if available in all sweet shops across the country.

Many of the eminent
Bengali personality were fond of Nobin Chandra’s Rossogolla including Rabindranath
tagore, Swami Ramkrishna, Swami Vivekanandaand many more.

Krishna Chandra Das
widely known as K.C.Das, son of the great Nobin Chandra Das has invented the
canned version of Rossogolla which is now available widely across India and
some other parts of the world.

Types of Rossogolla

Rossogollas are
available in different sizes and varieties. Some of these varieties are
described bellow:

Conventional
Rossogolla (white colored, soft and perishable)

Sponge Rossogolla

Kamola Bhog (Orange
colored and orange flavored)

Cream chop

Rajbhog

Nolen Gurer Rossogolla
(Rossogolla with Bengal jaggery flavor)

Recipes

Manufacturers of
Rossogolla normally do not disclose the recipes but here I have mentioned two
home recipes which can be tried by anyone.

My First Recipe

This recipe can be
tried at any time because the preparation of the main ingredients the chhena or
chhana is included in this recipe.

Ingredients

Whole milk 1 ltr.

Milk ½ cup (for the
mixture)

Flour 2 tsp

Sugar 200 gm

Lemon juice or
citric acid 15 ml

Water 500 ml

Preparation of chhena

Take full
cream milk

Boil it and
keep it on sim

Let it cool down to a lukewarm temperature

Add lemon
juice or citric acid for separating the water and the chhena

Once the water
and clusters of milk are separated, pour the separated milk on to a clean white
muslin cloth

Drain out the
water

Bundle up the
milk content in the cloth and hang it for 6 -8 hours for drainage of extra
water

Preparation of chhena
balls

Take the chhena in
a flat pan (water should be drained out before that)

Add flour

Mix well to make it
a fine dough

Make small balls
and keep aside

Preparation of syrup

Take 250 ml water
in a pan and put it on medium flame

Add sugar

When it starts
boiling and the sugar completely dissolved add ½ cup milk

The un-dissolved particles
of the mixture would be separated and float on the mixture

Screen out the
floating particles to get a clear syrup

The final part

Add chhena balls
and keep boiling on medium flame

Go on adding small
quantity of water as soon as the mixture starts boiling. The 250 ml balance
water should be added in a span of next 15 minutes

Put off the flame

Let the mixture
with the rossogollas be cooled

It can be served
hot otherwise preserve it in a bowl in the fridge

My Second Recipe

This recipe I have tested personally.

(The quantity shown here is the same as I used during testing, you may increase or reduce proportionately as per your requirement)

Ingredients

Fresh chhena ½ kg (you can use fresh paneer from local confectionary)

Sugar ½ kg

Flour 1 tbsp

Water 1 ltr.

Milk ½ cup

Procedure

Take the chhena in a flat pan

Add flour

Mix well to make it a fine dough

Make small balls and keep aside

Take 500 ml water in a pan and put it on medium flame

Add sugar

When it starts boiling and the sugar completely dissolved add ½ cup milk

The un-dissolved particles of the mixture would be separated and float on the mixture

Screen out the floating particles to get a clear syrup

Add chhena balls and keep boiling on medium flame

Go on adding small quantity of water as soon as the mixture starts boiling. The 500 ml balance water should be added in a span of next 15 minutes

Put off the flame

Let the mixture with the rossogollas be cooled

It can be served hot otherwise preserve it in a bowl in the fridge

Resources

Rossogolla is
readily available in any sweet shop of Kolkata as well as any other city of
Bengal. Canned Rossogolla manufactured by K.C.Das and grandsons Pvt. Ltd. is available
in grocery shops also. Now other manufacturers such as Haldiram, Amul etc are
also manufacturing canned Rossogolla.

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